As Commander Corgs might put it, Jester John Petric of the Other Paper didn’t get the joke — but he did appreciate the rock:

At least when idiot bands like Phish pull a Halloween stunt, it’s surrounded by a sense of fun—patchouli-drenched stink-bomb fun, but fun nevertheless. Bill the Butcher’s “acoustic” set was about as much fun as Ryan Adams looking in the mirror.

But when the electric Pumpkins finally came on, sans Halloween costumes, they did prove— once again—that they are one of the great rock bands. Especially with the drums manned by the powerful Jimmy Chambers [sic], whose precision timing and ability to make his skins speak in tandem with Corgan’s seriously dynamic guitar playing make the pair perhaps the most underrated team in music.

The bottom line:

[A]dd tons of bone-splintering, wicked guitar riffing, a crack band, a sold-out house, Halloween and Billy’s megalomaniacal personality, and it was a strangely memorable night. In the end, I admired him for being such a gigantic and talented asshole.

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